Test Administration:

Administration: Testing reviews a total of 42 items. 13 items are observed during a period of spontaneous activity. 5 items on the test are all related to head control in supported sitting. The following series of items examine postural control in the supine position. There is also a series of prone items that can be evaluated together. The remaining items to be evaluated focus on righting reactions during tilting and sidelying as well as postural control in standing.

Scoring: Correct scoring is explained during workshops.

Type of information, resulting from testing:

discriminate among infants with varying degrees of risk for poor motor outcome based on perinatal medical condition

be sensitive to the effects of physical therapy provided to high risk infants in the special care nursery or home exercise programs offered to premature infants post-hospital discharge

Environmnt for Testing: The TIMP can be used both in special care nursery settings and in early intervention programs.

Equipment and Materials Needed: Testing forms and pen

Examiner Qualifications: The test must be administered by those with experience in the TIMP attained by workshops.

Psychometric Characteristics: The test-retest reliability for 116 pairs of tests of r = .89 over 3 days; no significant difference between testers.

Standardization data: Diagnose motor developmental delay from 34 weeks postconceptional age through 4 months post term based on age standards developed from a sample of 990 U.S. infants of all races/ethnicities

Summary Comments

Strengths: Provides valuable predictive information on motor development of age group tested and sensitive to show effects of physical therapy provided to high risk infants in the special care nursery.

Weaknesses: Requires expensive training workshops in order to be administered.

Clinical Applications: Along with identifying infants that are high risk for poor motor performance and showing progress with motor performance over time, This test can also be used to plan and assess outcomes of intervention for babies with low scores

Article utilizing the Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP)

Lee H-M, Galloway JC. Early intensive postural and movement training advances head control in very young infants. Phys Ther 2012;92:935-947.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of the postural and movement experiences on the head control through measurement with the test of infant motor performance beginning when infants were 1 month old.

The population consisted of 22 full-term 1 month old infants with no known sensory or motor impairments. The patients were randomly selected to training group or control group. The training group consisted of 6 males and 5 females. They were provided at least 20 minutes of daily postural training, requiring increased use of neck, shoulder girdle, and trunk muscles, and movement training, requiring increased use of arm movements for reaching. The caretakers of treatment group were also encouraged to use a front carrier (i.e. BabyBjörn) for at least 20 minutes per day. The control group consisted of 8 males and 3 females. They were provided social interaction from the care giver as they werein a supine position. Caretakers provided visual and verbal contact, but no physical contact of the infant nor the use of toys was allowed. Each session lasted for at least 20 minutes per day over a 4 week period. Testing was performed every other week from the 1 to 4 months of age.

Following analysis of the the results, it was shown that the training group had higher TIMP scores on head control–related items during the training period and after training stopped compared with the control group. After conclusion of treatment, the treatment group infants actively moved their heads forward more often and for further distances.

The author concluded that young infants can benefit from postural and movement experiences to rapidly enhance their head control as early as 4 to 6 weeks of postnatal life. The author also concluded that improvement in TIMP scores and increase head mobility and head control was the result of infant positioning, caregiver handling, and caregiver-infant interactions.

3 Responses to “Test of Infant Motor Performance (TIMP)”

In searching for my test and measure, the TIME, I often ran across research involving the TIMP. I find it so interesting that they are both used for the evaluation of mobility in infants and change over time, as well as both being rather expensive to invest in. I know people need to make their way in life, but it would seem to me that if the overall health and well-being of the pediatric population is at the forefront, the authors of some of the tests and measures available should endeavor to make the tools more cost-effective and accessible to practitioners.

I so appreciate your concern about costs for learning the wonderful infant tests that are available today. I am the manager of IMPS, LLC, which distributes the TIMP and offers workshops. I would like to note that when we give workshops it is the local organizers who determine the cost. We charge a flat fee which can usually be covered with about 20-25 participants. One can also learn through self-instruction using an $85 DVD. That said, we are working on trying to find easier ways for people to learn the TIMP which includes the planning of an online training program that we expect to be available in 2016. There will still be a charge as our investment to make this happen will be more than $20,000 plus many many hours of donated time on the part of testers and instructors, but will allow learning at home and hence no travel costs. Thanks for your comment.